2021-01-11
This AIER article is a sensible contribution to the Covid debate as seen from the perspective of an economist, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Of course, if you tend toward the view that the Covid scenario has many of the hall-marks of a gigantic hoax (at whatever level you care to pitch it) then this economics-based explanation may carry little weight (and they are trying to sell us a book).
The coverage however extends well beyond Covid and addresses much policy-making that we may think has been less than ideal in recent times.
"The kind of economics we need right now is that which makes a direct link between logic and policy"
"The most conspicuous evidence that our societies have lost economic understanding is the year 2020, when most governments in the world imagined that they could turn off the economy like a light switch in order to mitigate disease"
"There is no way an economy characterized by extended supply chains and an infinitely complex division of labor could shut some things off and leave others on while otherwise leaving society undisturbed. The results have created a deeper economic pit than the Great Depression; we could be looking at the rise of hunger, disease, illiteracy, and suffering the world over for many years"
Quite so.
"... he shows precisely why bad economic understanding can lead to an unwarranted trust in politicians and bureaucrats to manage what private actors in society can manage far better"
